In 2002 the European Commission adopted a communication on the operating framework for the European Regulatory Agencies. Here, the Commission referred to the White Paper on European Governance that took into account regulatory agencies, meaning independent bodies with their own legal personality, as a means to improve the European Union’s functioning.
As a follow-up the Commission adopted in 2005 a draft inter-institutional agreement on the operating framework for the European regulatory agencies to define framework conditions for the creation, operation and control of regulatory agencies. In light of transparency and effectiveness, the draft agreement takes also into account the responsibilities of the institutions toward agencies and promotes a consistent political handling of the approach to agencies.
Despite general support from the European Parliament on the draft agreement, negotiations on the issue stalled in the Council.
Since using agencies to implement key tasks has become an established part of the way the European Union operates, the Commission decided that it was time to re-launch an inter-institutional debate on the matter. Hence, the Commission’s communication calls on the European Parliament and the Council to develop a clear and coherent vision on the place of agencies in European governance.
The inter-institutional working group that will be set up for this purpose will deal with issues such as the structure and working of agencies, accountability and regulatory agencies’ relationship with the other institutions, process for establishing and ending regulatory agencies.
In parallel, the Commission also aims at:
undertaking a horizontal evaluation of regulatory agencies
refraining the constitution of new regulatory agencies until the evaluation is complete
conducting a review of the Commission’s own internal systems governing its relations with agencies.
EPHA comments
EPHA welcomes the initiative undertook by the European Commission to define a coherent vision on the role and responsibilities of agencies in European governance. In particular we urge institutions to define competences and foresee a system of "checks and balances" to ensure the quality of EU policies.
EPHA related articles
EPHA report, "Opening the Black Box: Transparency in EU Decision Making"
